IMMIGRATION LAWYER SAYS STUDENTS SHOULD NOT ‘PANIC’ ABOUT DACA

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Senior Elton Lerma-Rivera fears he won’t be able to attend college next year now that President Donald Trump has decided to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program pending a six month delay to give Congress time to come up with a fix.

“It’s a really unfortunate situation,” Lerma-Rivera said. “I know a lot of people being affected by it. I know a lot of homes are kind of like in debt due to the fact they can’t work anymore and it’s really saddening.”

Lerma-Rivera fears people will be fired when their DACA statuses expire.

DACA was created under the Obama Administration in 2012 to allow illegal immigrants that entered the U.S. as minors to work, go to college, etc. About 800,000 immigrants will be affected by this repeal and almost 200,000 live in Texas.

“Unfortunately my sister is the only one working right now, so in about a few months there will be no income coming to the house,” Lerma-Rivera said. “So, either I work now and delay my chance to go to college or we just go back to Mexico.”

Immigration lawyer Bob Ghio said he feels awful about the DACA decision and it affects his clients that have “a lot to offer the country.”

Ghio also said he feels this bad decision from the president will force Congress to make a good decision in regards to a solution to the DACA issue and protecting the Dreamers is the right thing to do. He said he would tell worrying students not to panic.

“There is a good chance that something will happen soon,” Ghio said. “Don’t be afraid of going to school, don’t be afraid to go out in public, do everything you normally would until we know what’s gonna happen.”

IB coordinator Poppy Moore said the DACA ruling is upsetting to her because she sees that her students are upset over the ruling and they fear they won’t be able to attend college due to the lack of financial aid.

“It makes me wanna cry because I see how it hurts them, I really do,” Moore said. “I’ve worked my whole career to help these students. My passion is to help these students go on to college or whatever career that they see for their future and to see them lose hope and to have the fear and to have that pain, it affects me.”

Senior Jaquelin Lara said she feels Trump just wants to reverse everything that was enacted by the Obama Administration.

“I mean like just like myself, if I were to be undocumented, I would feel like that’s not really my home even though it’s my parents’ home,” Lara said. “I think Congress should not listen to him and continue having DACA.”

One Response to “IMMIGRATION LAWYER SAYS STUDENTS SHOULD NOT ‘PANIC’ ABOUT DACA”

Elton Lerma-Rivera on
October 18th, 2017 9:16 AM

Great work on the article!

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